72 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 



can place upon the market any vegetable that, in less 

 favored sections, requires glass, earlier, more plentifully, 

 and with less cost than the gardeners of more Northern 

 States. Since Florida gardeners have taken up truck- 

 growing for the Northern markets, those in the vicinity 

 of Charleston and Savannah require less glass than for- 

 merly. Hot-beds are rarely required as far south as 

 Charleston and Savannah to forward and protect tender 

 seedlings, like tomatoes, egg-plants, peppers, etc. Cold 

 frames, under proper management, not only suffice for 

 this, but are preferable. When any animal or vegeta- 

 ble matters undergo rapid fermentation with partial ad- 

 mission of air and moisture, a considerable amount of 

 heat is evolved, and the gardener takes advantage of 

 this chemical process in his forcing operations. In 

 the management of crops under glass, and the removal 

 of young and tender plants to the open ground, his 

 knowledge and observance of the changes of the weather 

 will serve him better than in any of his other operations. 

 In the vegetable kingdom, the heat of the sun is the cause 

 of growth, and its light that of maturity. Animals may 

 live with little or no light, but no vegetable can come to 

 perfection without it. The sun's rays are both those of 

 heat and light. Were it not for the wise prevention of 

 the accumulation upon the earth of the heat received 

 from the sun, all life upon our globe would be destroyed. 



DEW AND FROST. 



Evaporation and radiation of heat into space from the 

 earth during the night, when it receives little in return, 

 accomplish this purpose; and these means are the source 

 of benefit. When the surface of the earth has, by this 

 radiation of heat, become colder than the surrounding air, 

 the moisture of the air is condensed upon it in the form 

 of dew, as when moisture appears on the outside of a 

 glass of ice-water, or upon a gun-barrel, etc., upon being 



